Sliwinski submitted his letter of resignation to the township board, which holds its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday and will officially address the resignation.

In his terse letter to board members, Sliwinski offered no explanation for his resignation.

Dear Orion Township Board of Trustees,

Effective Tuesday, May 8, 2018, I submit my resignation from the Orion Township Board of Trustees.

Ronald C. Sliwinski

The letter was posted online in the board’s May 7, 2018 meeting agenda packet documents.

The resignation comes after months of controversy in which Sliwinski, a former Lake Orion High School special education teacher, was accused of harassing a former co-worker.

The situation became public after the township received 44 envelopes on Nov. 6 last year containing an unsigned statement and copies of emails accusing Sliwinski of harassing a fellow teacher.

The emails exchanges, dated May 2, 2017, are between a married female teacher who claims the harassment had gone on for years, and, according to the documents, included unwanted physical touching, vulgar gestures and inappropriate comments about the teacher’s appearance and sex life.

Sliwinski was arrested and then booked on Jan. 30, 2018. He was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery after an investigation by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and case review by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.

He pleaded No Contest to a misdemeanor assault and battery charge on March 21 in Judge Julie Nicholson’s 52nd – 3rd District Court in Rochester Hills.

A No Contest plea (nolo contendere) is a plea by which a defendant in a criminal prosecution accepts conviction as though a guilty plea had been entered, but does not admit guilt.

He was sentenced to 14 days in jail by Judge Nicholson on April 17 and was immediately taken into custody to begin serving the sentence.

The Lake Orion Review will have an update to this ongoing story in the May 9 issue after Monday night’s board meeting. – By Jim Newell